Rooney says blue half of Manchester to dominate for years to come

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has opened up on his former side’s struggles to compete with cross-city rivals Manchester City this season, saying the blue side of the city are so far ahead, they are realistically looking at back-to-back Premier League titles.

With a 13-point lead atop the table, City are virtually assured of securing the title this season, while bookmakers Neds also have them as $3.25 favourites to take out the FA Cup.

Neds are also offering a top-four market that doesn’t contain City, as they are virtually guaranteed of finishing in that echelon.

It’s a level of dominance that led Rooney – now playing with boyhood club Everton, who copped a 5-1 pasting at the hands of Arsenal last time out – to compare Pep Guardiola’s current team to the all-conquering sides he coached at Barcelona.

“In terms of catching Manchester City, I think certainly not this season and if I’m being perfectly honest it will be difficult next season because of how City are playing. They’re getting to the level of Barcelona four or five years ago,” Rooney said on Sky Sports.

“Not nice to say but if you can’t enjoy that style of football then you won’t enjoy football. It is great to watch, the movement and courage they have on the ball. It’s almost perfect football at times.

“Pep Guardiola is putting the foundations in place trying to emulate that Barcelona team, you can see they're certainly on the way to doing that. One or two more players in the summer maybe but I don’t think they’re far off.

“Obviously they have to win the trophies, that's the main game. But in terms of how they’re playing and punishing teams, they’re not far away.”

Rooney also gave his opinion on the Red Devils’ recent transfer window moves, saying Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s move to Arsenal has him “in the right place now”, while Alexiss Sanchez “is the perfect player for United”.

“He's got aggression, passion, desire and you can see he’s a winner. That’s what they’ve lacked, players around [Romelu] Lukaku that are going to push Lukaku on and try and help him get a bit more freedom and score more goals,” Rooney said.

“Sanchez will do that, they’re the players you want because they lift other players and give them an extra five per cent.

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